Eyes
by Elsium.Awaits
Summary: You can never truly know someone if you don't look into their eyes. Leo and the rest of the gang are soon going to find that out when Adoncia's dark secrets start to uncover.
1. Chapter 1

_**Leo POV**_

She really creeps me out. I know it's wrong to say it, especially after the whole Nico thing but she really is scary. Her brother, Nico, well, we don't know what happened to him, but we knowhe...he...er... isn't alive anymore. He's in Elysium, she told us she knew it. We believed her, children of Hades don't get these things wrong. She sits in the corner, hugging her knees. Someone has spoken to her but she just blanked us. Wait, has anyone spoken to her on this quest. In her time at camp? I haven't. She has always scared me too much. She induces fear like her half brother Nico. I really should speak to her. We didn't speak to Nico after the quest. The strength of his fear inducing increased so I was too scared to talk to him, even though we had grown close. Then he ran away without leaving a trace. I walk up to the girl curled up in the corner. I never realised what she really looked like before. I never noticed that she was...Spanish! Just like myself. It was the accent that gave it away. Very fast, direct, no stress timing, meaning none of the words are stretched, they all last as long as each other, much like a machine gun. The rolling of the R, the distinctive H and Y. Definitely Spanish.

"Hey erm..." I stutter, realising I never knew her name.

"It fine if you don't want to talk to me, it's fine." She calmly says in her strong Spanish accent, much stronger than mine. "By the way it's Adoncia. Adoncia De Le Fuente." obviously picking up that I didn't even know her name.

"Hey Adoncia! How yo-" just as I was asking how she was, she interrupted.

"Please call me Addy, Adoncia sounds far too formal." allowing herself to chuckle a little and a small smile dances around her face. I feel my own face stretch into a grin. Then she unleashes the full on smile. I can only see half of it as her face is still resting on her knees. Her thin lips showcase her beautiful, white teeth. It's dazzling. I must have been staring and she starts to look uncomfortable and the smile in gone.

"I-I er.. I'm sorry." I stutter in a panic to maintain that smile.

She looks up at me, "You're the first person to say that to me." I want to tell her that it can't be true surely but I am too mesmerised by her looks. She has tanned skin and straight dark brown hair. Her dark brown eyes have the hint of a mad man, probably off her father. Hades. Her small nose comes to a perfect point. Her eyes though. So much pain, I can see it. So beautiful yet so damaged, I can tell that just from her eyes.

"Where are you from?" She asks me.

"Texas and you?" To which she replies, "Ronda in Spain. The one where is it built right at the edge of a gorge. It's so historic and beautiful." I nod. Half saying that I have heard of Ronda, the other saying that I agree that it is historic and beautiful even though I have never been. We carry on discussing Spain and I find out she lived there for 10 years before getting to camp. She doesn't tell me how she got to camp mind. She's two years younger than me. She is 15 and I am 17. If she lived in Spain for 10 years she must know Spanish. So, I decide to test that hypothesis.

"Eres hermosa.(You are beautiful)" She shakes her head whilst looking down. I come to the assumption that she doesn't know Spanish until I see a small smile dance across her face. "Realmente me gustas. (I really like you)" I continue. She looks up with the biggest smile on her face and I take the chance. I have an opportunity and I take it. I press my lips against hers and she doesn't pull back. In fact, she pulls me closer. Wrapping her arms around my neck. I start to slip my hand up her back to take off her jacket when she grabs my hand. I immediately ask what's wrong. She explains, "I don't want you to have to see it, I- I really like you too and well, I don't want to ruin _this_ already." Gesturing to us both and looking down. I eventually persuade her that it definitely won't ruin it and that she's beautiful no matter what. She slowly takes of her jacket and I realise why she always keeps it on.

"Where... what... how?" I stutter, in shock. She is covered in scars from various things, whips, scratches, what looks like knife marks and stab wounds. She chuckles but I know it's only to break the awkwardness. Also, the top of her left arm, it looks wrong. It looks broken almost. Addy must notice at me staring at her arm and she quickly covers it and states, "The door won!" we both chuckle but I know it's more than that. It looks painful, really painful. I kiss her again.

The door flies open and Addy flings her jacket on. Percy strides in, he meets Adoncia 's gaze but quickly looks away. You can find out so much about a person from their eyes, to simply ignore them is a waste, I know that now. They can scream in pain or laugh with Joy. Another thing I like about Addy is how little she reminds me of my... mother. The spanish accent, it just reminded my of Texas and that conversation about Texas itself just reminded me of my mother, now I can't get her out of my head. Reading me stories and tucking me up in bed, showing me how fuse pieces of metal together, all these memories just playing in my head. I feel the tears running down my face. I explain myself.

"I just... I don't know. I'm just thinking about my mother-" I see Adoncia tense up. "-she was just so kind and funny and I loved her with all my heart. I'm sorry guys but a guy this amazing has to have a little cry every now and again." I say attempting a joke. Percy comes over to give me a bro hug. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Adoncia curled up in a ball in the corner, eyes shut, stroking her jacket which covers her scar infested arms. "I'm sorry about getting so deep, I just loved my mother and she loved me." I say trying to make her feel less awkward. But apparently she never was feeling awkward because she just stands up and runs out, tears rolling down her face. I go to chase her when Percy grabs me, "Ignore her, she's a creep." and when he says that, I feel myself ignite. Literally. I burn his hands, "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT MY GIRLFRIEND! ESPECIALLY AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO NICO!" Percy's face flushes red. I think he was just expecting me to laugh along. His hand drops from my t-shirt as I run out to chase Adoncia.

"Addy! Addy wait up! What's up! Addy? Adoncia? Adoncia De Le Fuente? Addy! There you are!" I say chasing her down the corridor of the Argo III- that's right, I decided to build another ship, what can I say? It's a hobby! I get to the smallest room on the Argo III- Adoncia's, but she isn't there. I hear a sniffle coming from the cupboard. I open the shiny, light brown oak door and find Adoncia. It's a small cupboard. Probably the smallest cupboard, I open my mouth to ask her why she's here when she looks up and see's me. I am too mesmerised by her face to even start to ask why.

"Leo!" She exclaims snapping me back into reality. my mouth snapping shut so fast I catch the corner of my lip. "She never used to find me in the small cupboards. If she did, she wouldn't open them, she would just find a way to lock it. Usually putting the handle of the broom we kept in the living room through the handles." She allows a chuckle to escape her pale lips but I know better than to believe it. I look into her eyes. Her red puffy eyes. Screaming with sorrow. Screaming to confess everything. "Sorry I ran off back there... my... er... allergies. Yes! My allergies were playing up... you know, to sea creatures, Percy triggered it, hence my eyes watering." I don't buy a word of it but I don't question her, I simply nod and offer her my hand to help her out of the cupboard. She reaches out with her bad arm and places her hand gently in mine. Her tanned Spanish skin blends into mine. I see her wince a little as she puts pressure on her bad arm but she doesn't say anything. Neither of us do. Then her small, soft hand remains in mine even once she is stood up. She leans in to me. I first thought she was going to kiss me but instead she wipes my lip. For a moment I am confused then I realise I must have had a trickle of blood from when I bit my lip. Then she leans in for the kiss.

Really? They had to choose that moment to attack? Really! Well thanks for that- not! Stupid empousai! We hear them land before we see them. A loud _thump!_ as they landed, probably from jumping off their ride. Immediately, we start to run to the deck when Addy disappears from my side. When I turn to see where she is, I can see she is fighting one of the empousai, right outside of Percy's room. Percy must be asleep, that is when empousai usually attack. They drink the blood of men. That's why she didn't alert me. Soon, the monster is a pile of dust and the back on Adoncia's jacket is sliced open and pouring with thick, red blood. Percy rushes out of his room and doesn't even acknowledge Addy. She just saved his life, getting herself injured in the process and he didn't even care. I must remember to shout-no-speak to him about it.

"Addy! Are you okay!" I shout from the end of the hall as I see her cling to the wall for support.

"Just another one to add to the collection! Aha! I've had worse Valdez now get above deck and kick some Empousai but." And with that, she gets up and runs off herself. I follow her like a dog following its owner.

When we reach where the main fight is happening. It is chaos. Reyna and her metal dogs are taking down the monsters almost as quickly as more are joining the fight. Percy is controlling the water around them to hit the empousai off the ship, but they just climb straight back on again. Dam! These girls are tough! Annabeth is slicing and ducking perfectly and is currently unscathed. So is near enough everyone on the ship. So far. Piper and Jason are working together to take down as may empousai as they can, combining their powers into one unstoppable duo. Frank is fighting alone as a Rhino. He used to fight with Hazel but she died a long time ago. It's still and touchy topic. Only one out of four underworld kids are still alive. The odds aren't good.

"We're massively outnumbered!" I hear Jason shout in the distance. I see Adoncia place her hands on the ground and shut her eyes. What the Hades is she doing? Now isn't the time to have a nap! Her skin begins to go paler and paler. I open my hand and blast fire at one of the empousai. It knocks them off the boat. But, when she is trying to get back on, a skeletal hand reaches up and pulls her down again. So that is what Adoncia has been doing! For once, people actually take notice of her. When the battle is over, they all gather in a group, me included, to go and find her and thank her. We find her sat down, lay on a pillar unconscious. It must have took a lot of strength to raise the dead from the sea bed. I think that is when the others realise that she is just like Nico. They actually say that. They all make a pact to make her feel more welcome. When the others agree to that, I don't . I remain silent with a mischievous grin on my face. And that's when I announce that I don't need to promise to make Adoncia feel more welcome as I was dating her.

Adoncia then regains consciousness. She stands up but stumbles, obviously dizzy from blood loss. We can see that from the crimson puddle that had formed behind her. I catch her then pick her up and carry her over to one of the chairs. She claims she's fine but when she gets up and turns, we can all see the deep gash in the bottom of her bag. She goes to run off as she is obviously feeling nervous about having the attention. Afraid of trusting them. I'm not sure why though. However, when she goes to run off, Jason grabs her jacket and it slips off showing the various types of scars down her body and her miss shaped arm. I can hear the little sniffles she is making due to crying as she runs off down the hall and Jason just holds the jacket whilst he and the others look dumb-stuck. I take off after her, Reyna following.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Leo POV**_

Reyna gestures for me to stay outside the door whilst she goes in to calm Adoncia down. The others haven't followed so I assume they are still a bit shocked. I can faintly hear the conversation going on behind the cupboard door.

"Addy, I'm sure they won't judge you. Come on, we can go and we can have another reading and writing lesson." Reyna is saying in a soothed voice. "Come on, Leo's waiting out there for you."

I hear a light, delicate sniffle. "Okay. Okay, yeah. Just don't tell them about anything, about the scars or lessons or anything. Just pretend they don't exist." Adoncia's voice is muffled, as if her face is buried in Reyna's shoulder. I had no clue they were so close.

The cupboard door lock clicks open and Reyna and Adoncia emerge from the darkness and Adoncia runs up and embraces me, snaking her arms around my neck, I peck her cheek. We break apart and all three of us go down to face the others. They are all still gathered discussing something in muted tones. When we walk in, they all seem to develop an interest in the sea of dark blue carpet lapping under their feet, like eagles stalking their pray. We walk in, Reyna leading and Adoncia and I are falling slightly behind, forming a triangle. Reyna heads straight for the settee. Adoncia and I follow. The others keep their mouth shut. Apart from Jason, as usual. He opens his mouth to start to form a sentence, but I shoot him a look, and if looks could kill, let's just say he would drop like a fly. Reyna and Adoncia sit on the settee and I sit on the armchair next to it. The armchair is blue and speckled with white whilst the settee is white and spotted with blue flowers. We begin to talk about random stuff when I notice the dark circles under Adoncia's eyes.

"Addy, how did you sleep last night?" I ask her assuming she will say she didn't sleep too well.

"I don't sleep." Is the short response I get snapped back at me. Reyna shoots me a look. As if she is telepathically communicating with me, I immediately understand that she wants to speak to me outside.

"I'm going for a pee." I blurt out. It's the first thing I thought of.

"Oh far too much information!" Hazel responds. I head out of the dark oak doorway and into the red corridor. I feel bad for leaving her there on her own. Of course I do, but if Reyna has any insight into why Addy snapped at me like that, I would really like to hear it. After a couple of minutes, I turn towards the doorway and begin to make my way towards it when I see Reyna. She walks and doesn't slow down. I consider calling to her but when she passes me, she grabs my collar. She starts to drag me down the hall and I don't fight it.

"She reminded me in there, that's why I am asking you now," Reyna starts in a hushed tone. I am still confused as to why she has chosen to speak to me out here, "I need to ask you something, have you been hearing any screaming or shouting in the night?" I nod because I have, I am more intrigued now, "Oh no, I have as well but I wasn't sure if I was making it up. It's Addy, her dreams aren't about the future, ever, unlike most demigods. Always the past. She screams and screams. She hasn't slept in 2 months. I think the dreams are turning into flashbacks. Screaming and shouting to let the anger and pain out. And trust me, there is a lot of anger and pain to get out. ". I don't know why, but this has kind of angered me. I had a horrible past experience. Reyna, well she just had hell!

"Yeah, but you and I, mainly you, had horrible moments in our childhoods but we don't scream and shout about it. A bad experience doesn't give you the right to be moody all of the time-" I am interrupted before I say something I can't take back and I can tell from the look on Reyna's face that I am lucky if I am forgiven. I had no right to say that did I? I mean, I don't know anything about her childhood. Who am I to assume everyone who had a horrible childhood likes to make a big show and dance about it, I don't.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN! WHAT ADONCIA HAS BEEN THROUGH IS NOTHING LIKE ME AND BY THE LOOKS OF THINGS, NOTHING LIKE YOU!" She shouts at me, tears welling in her eyes, either from the memory of her old childhood or actually in sympathy for Addy. "I'm sorry, you're not the only one who has been fooled by her doll face. I just thought that you would be able to see through it, see the truth in her eyes. I'm not going to tell you everything. I can't. I won't. But her mother... well, you saw the scars right, well her mother did them. Her mother did that to her, completely sober. Her mother tried to kill her as well, so many times. Locked her in cupboards, whipped her and her brother-" I am shocked by this. I immediately feel a twang of guilt for saying that earlier stuff. She really did have a hard childhood and by the sounds of things, that isn't all of it. But brother? What? Since when did Adoncia have a brother?

"Addy didn't have a brother." I say with a hint of uncertainty.

"Sadly, she did. I very much doubt she would have ever told you. He went missing when she was 7. They were twins so they were very close. He just disappeared one day, just before her mother got a lot more violent and started beating Addy a lot harder and more often." I don't know how to respond. It's a mutual feeling. We both exchange a look that says more than words could and we separate, entering the main room at separate times.

We both sit down in the same places that we originally sat it. There is a silence cast over the group. I go to smash it with my words when I hear a low voice shout. Once I figure out what was said, I am shocked.

"Adoncia! Addy! At last! Addy!"

Adoncia bolts up next to me. She starts to run towards the voice's origin, tears streaming down her face. She starts to scream, but she's also smiling. The full on grin that shimmers like the sun.

"Ad! Adolpho! Oh my Gods!"

I look up to see where she is shouting to. I see a silhouette of a boy. About the same height as Adoncia, maybe a little taller actually. Wait, could this be the "brother".

The figure starts to move towards Adoncia at a fast pace and she returns the movement. When they meet each other in a bear hug, I notice the uncanny resemblance they share. Twins. Just like Reyna had told me. Mixed gender twins yet they look so similar I would get them confused if they had the same haircut. Adoncia's twin brother, it sounds strange just thinking it, has short cropped hair, the same colour as Adoncia's. When they break apart, I see Addy gesture to me, telling her brother about me. He starts to walk up to me and I notice how Addy is ever so slightly smaller than her twin.

"Hola. I am Adolpho De Le Fuente, Adoncia's twin brother. ¿Hablas español?" He asks me, in a strong Spanish accent, slightly weaker than Adoncia's.

"Si. I lived in Texas, fluent in Spanish, well, a little rusty." I reply.

"Call me Ad by the way. Not Addy because well, that's Adoncia's nickname. Ad. Ad and Addy. Adoncia and Adolpho. Mother never really had a knack for naming twins." They both chuckle when Adolpho says this.

We walk back to meet the others.

"Guys! Guys listen! This is Adolpho. Adoncia's twin brother. Ad for short. Adoncia and Adolpho, Ad and Addy." They all greet each other. The conversation goes strong for a good few hours when all of a sudden it crashes like two cars. That one subject that nobody should have mentioned. Family. Particularly, mothers. Maybe she'll open up. I really hope she does.

I have no clue how the conversation steered to that but somehow it did.

"I can't remember much of my mother. I was taken from my family by one of the neighbours. He heard my mother...erm... her beating us. Addy, did she carry on once I left? Did she...she... she get worse?" Adolpho says but I can tell that he gets his answer to his question from the look on Addy's face. Her mask is slipping, revealing the pain and sorrow inside but she pulls it up again and confidently yet unemotionally says,

"Yeah, she got very bad, lots of scars to prove it." As she says it, her mask slips again. The tears well up in her eyes as she looks down, taking an interest in the ground.

_**Adoncia POV**_

"EVERYBODY GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THE HULL AS POSSIBLE!" Leo starts to scream, we're crashing. Everybody obeys him, but not me or Leo. I squeeze Reyna and Ad's hands and I follow Leo as he goes to the control room. "Somebody needs to stay and steer, Addy it's not safe here, go back with the others."

"No! I won't let you!" But then a plan starts to form in my head.

"Addy get back now!" He shouts but suddenly I press my lips against his. I start to push him towards the door, which is open. When he is near enough out of the door, I pull away and rest my cheek on his shoulder, whispering "I love you Leo". Then I pull back completely and push Leo out of the door slamming it in front of him and locking it. I kiss the glass where roughly where Leo's head is then I turn away to try and stop the ship from crashing. It's an impossible task. I heard Leo mutter it under his breath before, "It's impossible, even with me.".

A jolt is sent through my body and I fly forwards. Smacking my chest on the wheel. As I struggle for air, I peel myself off of the wheel. Only to be flung to my right. I land on a disregarded sword that pierces straight through my leg. I let out a scream of pain as I then pull the sword back out of my leg. I gasp for air as I begin to smell the smoke. I whip my head around and see the amber flames begin to rise. A surge of panic runs through me. I try to shuffle across the ground, to get as far away from the fire as possible but I soon realise, I already am, and the fires getting closer. The smokes filling my lungs, slowly suffocating me. I grip onto the wall and shuffle upwards so I end up standing up with all my weight on the wall. I push myself off and reach up and grab the fire blanket, I slowly limp across the ground and throw the blanket over the fire. I stand back up and grip onto the wheel, turning us away from the mountain that has already destroyed the ship. This is why Leo needed somebody here, not to avoid the crash but to steer it after to avoid another crash. If we crashed again then we defiantly won't survive. We seem to be out of danger of crashing, I limp over to the door and unlock it to be greeted with a group of concerned people. As soon as the door opens, my knees buckle and everything goes black.

I awaken with a startle, with faces around me merging to one. I shut my eyes again and open them hoping things would be less blurry, unfortunately not. I bolt up only to be supported by Leo. I swing my legs of the couch and stand up but stumble and begin to fall when Frank puts his hands behind me and catches me and helps me back up. I start to walk back to my room. My knee buckles but I manage to study it.

"Oh Hades no! You're not going anywhere till we say you can! Now sit back down, your too weak! Well done back there by the way, you saved our lives." Percy says whilst he holds my arm supporting me back to the coach. Before I can get there, I am surrounded in a group hug of people thanking me. Reyna, Leo and Ad come up to me and hold on to me for longer. Leo pecking my lips, Adolpho my lips and Reyna just hugs me. I start to get dizzy but I don't mention it. I can't breathe. When we break apart, I stumble but yet again am caught, this time by Adolpho. I stand back up. Everything's blurred. I grip onto the wall for support. I place my forehead on it, trying to catch my breath but still failing. I start to tear up. From the pain, my lungs and leg are on fire. I still can't catch y breath and things aren't getting any clearer. That's when my knees completely buckle and I collapse onto the ground and everything fades. The last thing I hear is Leo, Adolpho and Reyna shouting my name and coming closer to me. Then everything is lost.


End file.
